Malta (2021 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

In Malta, the eInvoicing Directive has been transposed via Legal Notices 403 and 404 of 2018. This Directive was transposed under the Financial Administration and Audit Act and also under the Local Councils Act. This was warranted since Local Councils in Malta have separate financial regulations that are listed in a dedicated act for these local authorities. Moreover, the extra year for sub-central entities applied. There is rather a fragmented picture at the sub-central level for accounting reporting since most entities and local councils use different accounting systems or packages.

The Maltese government promotes the adoption of eInvoicing in its Digital Malta national strategy entitled: Digital Malta 2014-2020. The central government's action to promote the adoption of eInvoicing is an encouragement for local actors' implementation of eInvoicing.

The introduction of eInvoicing was also reflected within “Mapping Tomorrow”, the strategic plan for the digital transformation of the public administration for 2019-2021.

Furthermore, as part of the activities of the eInvoicing4Islands project (implementation between June 2019 and Q3 2021), Malta committed to deploy a new eInvoicing service for Government and its sub-central authorities taking into account the on-going development for central authorities and the required connection to the eDelivery Building Block.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

Currently, there is no eInvoicing platform in place. The Treasury Department, together with the support of the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) is currently in the implementation process phase of a Corporate Financial Management Solution (CFMS), which will also incorporate the processing of eInvoices across the central government. Economic operators will be able to submit eInvoices to contracting authorities through their eInvoice solution and service providers.

The Maltese Government is still in the process of selecting its Peppol certified eInvoice certified service providers. On 18 March 2021, the Maltese Ministry for Finance and Employment has launched a tender to establish an agreement for the provision of Peppol Networking and eInvoicing Services, so as to enable all Government Departments, Local Councils, Regional Authorities and Government Entities to meet their obligations as required by the European Directive 2014/55/EU on eInvoicing in public procurement.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

Since Malta will adopt the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, it will be able to receive eInvoices via the Peppol eDelivery network. Moreover, a suppliers' portal will be made available and suppliers could input their invoice details and send to the relative Ministry, Department, Entity or Local Council. This portal is warranted since most suppliers still do not have their systems ready to automatically generate an eInvoice.

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

The eInvoicing model is a Peppol-based strategy, but it is still in the implementation phase. Any eInvoices (incl. non-domestic suppliers) will be exchanged via the Peppol eDelivery network. Malta made used of the additional year provided for by the Directive, to ensure its implementation at sub-central authorities’ level. The main reason for this is because there is a fragmented picture at the sub-central level for accounting reporting. The eInvoicing legislation made eInvoicing mandatory only for amounts above the EU procurement thresholds.

In its tender (mentioned above), the Maltese government notably expects the following results[1]:

• Provide Peppol networking and eInvoicing services to the Maltese Government, including the Government Departments, Government Entities, Local Councils and Regional Authorities;
• Provide different levels of implementation as required according to the readiness of the departments concerned, consisting of:
  • Direct interfacing with Central Government’s Corporate Financial Management System (CFMS) and transmit relative eInvoices;
  • Alternative solution and setup required to cater for Departments, Entities, Local Councils and Regional Authorities that use different Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that are still not capable to automatically receive and process eInvoices.
• Provide a Supplier Invoice Portal;
• Provide enhancements required to the Peppol Networking and eInvoicing Services;

There are communication channels to raise awareness about the upcoming mandatory eInvoicing implementation at the sub-central level. More specifically, there is a dedicated contact person in each Ministry and the National Forum on eInvoicing. 

The expected benefits of eInvoicing[2] are the cost and operational savings and the reduction of administrative burden. Since sub-central entities have different ERP/Accounting packages, not all will be immediately able to adopt an automated approach.

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

The eInvoicing committee composed of government stakeholders in Malta agreed that to adopt the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and its Core Invoice Usage Specification (CIUS). To be able to do this Malta has become an end-user member with OpenPeppol.

Both central government and sub-central authorities will be able to receive eInvoices via the Peppol eDelivery network or via a suppliers' portal. In sub-central authorities consists of various solutions in the different entities. Therefore, existing solutions can remain in use. In this context, contracting authorities and entities (as defined in the eInvoicing Directive) will be expected to arrange access to or establish an eInvoicing capability that supports receiving and processing of European Standard eInvoices via the Peppol eDelivery network.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

Malta is a Peppol member and therefore the Peppol CIUS will be used at the national level. There is no ad-hoc or national CIUS in use or foreseen in Malta.

Use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS) at national level  

Malta is a Peppol member and therefore the Peppol CIUS will be used at the national level. 

Additional information

The Maltese government established a committee to coordinate the implementation of Directive 2014/55/EU. 

[1] (Maltese Ministry for Finance, 2021), [2] Please see the eInvoicing Benefit analysis produced by CEF eInvoicing.

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Last updated:  Aug 24, 2021 11:58